Crytek will now take a 5% cut from games made using CryEngine 5.5

Crytek announced in a press release today a new 5 percent royalty-based model following an update for the CryEngine.

This means that developers who upgrade and use CryEngine 5.5 will have to give a five percent share of profits generated from any games built with the engine, but only after revenues have passed $5,000.

The new shift differs from Cytek's previous model, which gave developers the option to download CryEngine for free, who could then choose to pay what they wanted in order to support the company supplying the tech.

Crytek's business model has changed three times now, with the last shift making the CryEngine "pay what you want" back in 2016. Before that, Crytek tried to launch the engine under a subscription-based model in 2014.

Developers currently building a game in CryEngine 5.0 to 5.4 can apply for royalty exemptions, but will not be able to upgrade to 5.5.